1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to a temperature measuring apparatus equipped with a sensor assembly made up of sensing devices which outputs a signal correlating with the temperature of a target object and a temperature determiner which analyzes the output from the sensor assembly to determine the temperature of the target object.
2. Background Art
Japanese Patent First Publication No. 2009-171312, assigned to the same assignee as this application, teaches a temperature measuring apparatus which is equipped with a set of temperature-sensitive diodes connected together which outputs a signal correlating with temperatures of a target object (e.g., a semiconductor switching device), a modulation circuit which modulates the output from the set of the temperature-sensitive diode into a pulse signal, and a microcomputer which analyzes the pulse signal to determine the temperature of the target object.
The number of the temperature-sensitive diodes connected together depends upon specifications of the temperature measuring apparatus. An increase in number of the temperature-sensitive diodes results in an increased level (i.e., a voltage drop) of the output from the set of the temperature-sensitive diodes representing an actual temperature of the target object. Therefore, when the temperature measuring apparatus does not pre-store information about the number of the temperature-sensitive diodes in a microcomputer, that is, is not designed to match the number of the temperature-sensitive diodes installed therein, it may result in a decrease in accuracy of determining the temperature of the target object using the pulse signal, as described above.
Temperature measuring apparatuses equipped with a set of sensing devices which are different in type from the temperature-sensitive diodes and are engineered to produce an output correlating with temperatures of a target object also encounter the above problem.